43Dan
Dan wasn’t sure how he felt about what he could do magically. He’d reduced one witch to ashes, and he’d left another witch as a powerless badger. He felt like there weregoodmagics and bad magics, and his gift felt like both. He could take people’s magic, leave them empty, but he could gift that magic to others.
He felt the weight of the magic he’d stolen from the last head of House Grendel.Who will live and die as a wild animal.Dan touched the wall of the castle, and a pressure inside him made him lean against the wall.
Let it go.
Let it flow into this place that has felt like home.
He closed his eyes and exhaled, and Agnes’ magic rolled out of his body into the stones. As it did, he felt like pain was escaping. A weight shifted from his shoulders. He was no longer holding on to stolen magic.
Now I just need to deal with a stolen house.
He was more stressed about moving into the house that was, by extension, his now. The castle hobs were like family. Well, like a familyof pranksters… and Agnes had felt malevolent. Her magic had made him feel agitated.
“Clance?” Dan called out. He was sitting on his bed in his room in the castle.
“Yes.” Clancy appeared next to him, sprawled out on a pillow that was almost sofa-sized for someone of his stature.
“Why are the hobs so nice to me?”
“Because you belong here.” Clancy looked up at him, expression uncommonly serious. “You were always going to replace the last Grendel. She was untethered. We knew.”
“How?”
“Because wearemagic, child.” Clancy sat upright, legs folded crisscross, and hands held loosely in his lap. “We made this place, you know, and we knew you were ours. You’ll be good for a lot of people.”
“Oh.”
“Some people aren’t ready to be who they are. Some people are afraid of their magic. Some people want to be something else entirely. You? You are sure of yourself.”
“Me?” Dan gaped at him. “I doubt everything. I feel like I think things to death. I’m anxious. I’m… just a guy who screws up a lot.”
Clancy shook his head. “You’re a person who tries. You ask hard questions. You and Thesis were needed. Now that you’re ready to be what you already were, you’ll help Crenshaw. That’s the real secret of being a house head. You do the hard things, and you try to make the world better.”
“Oh… well, thank you.” Dan squirmed a little. “I don’t want to go to that house without any hobs, or without Axell, but…”
“Why would you go without us?” Clancy scowled. “I picked you. You’re my witch. I’ll transfer to House Grendel and look after you. That was already the plan.”
“I’ll screw up.”
“Well, of course you will. Witches are human. So they make mistakes.Luckily, you have magic—and by magic I meanhobs.We always steer things back to right.” Clancy stood and stretched. “Now, I need to get back to work. The house is tidy, and her things were re-sorted. Furniture shifted. Everything will be yours soon.”
“Right… then, well.” Dan looked over, but Clancy was gone. The decision to move felt better.I can do this,Dan tried to tell himself, although to be honest, he was still fairly sure there was a mistake. He didn’t feel like he ought to be in charge of anything.
But houses were limited, and he couldn’t just decide to stay in the castle.Could I?The last of his cohort was settled in the castle, and a few of the people from town were deciding to stay here. Other witches were moving to group houses or apartments. Everything was starting to change.
There were still at least two remedial witches who might be siphoned, and Dan couldtellthat now, but tonight they’d all been given leave to roam freely throughout the castle. It felt like a small victory to him, since he’d been doing as much since he was released from the infirmary.
Maybe I am House Grendel.
“Ana has been making liquor,” Axell announced from the open door to Dan’s room.
“Where?”
“Built a still in an unused classroom.” Axell shrugged, as if brewing a highly flammable liquor in closed spaces was of no concern.
“Moonshine? A still? What was she thinking?” Dan gaped at him.
